High Resolution Imaging of Sodium at Mercury

Details High Resolution Imaging of Sodium at Mercury High Resolution Imaging of Sodium at Mercury

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.5702w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #57.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.588

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

We have used a large telescope with adaptive optics to produce one of the most detailed 2-dimensional images of Mercury's sodium exosphere ever made. We observed Mercury during the elongation of mid-June 2006, a period when Mercury's radial heliocentric velocity was near maximum. Spectral images were recorded with a 20x20 fiber-optic image slicer and medium resolution spectrograph on the Air Force's AEOS 3.7-meter telescope.
The image shows bright sodium regions near both of Mercury's poles and along the dawn terminator, consistent with the results of Potter et al. (2006). The brightening along the terminator may be due to the desorption (evaporation) of Na atoms by heating from the rising sun (e.g., Leblanc and Johnson 2003). The brightening at the poles may be due to a combination of line-of-sight effects through the atmosphere and a localized source of Na such as solar wind impacting the surface.
Leblanc and Johnson, Mercury's Sodium Exosphere, Icarus, 164, 261-281, 2003.
Potter, Killen and Sarantos, Spatial distribution of sodium on Mercury, Icarus, 181, 1-12, 2006.

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